#851 Cheesy Words

I’m worried about the decay of our language. Language has a certain poetry about it, words resonate in ways that are almost musical.
You know a word fits with a certain thing.
The words shark and snarky sound alike for a reason. They both evoke that edgy “arkyness.”
Likewise the words pound and round. They have a fullness of sound that makes you think of curvier, broader things. You strike something with a hammer. You pound it with your fist. A pound of fat makes you more round.
Or a pound of cheese.
Cheese is what I’m worried about. We like cheese.
And we don’t like things that are cheesy. Or, at least, we think things that are cheesy are not as solid and well-built as things that aren’t.
Cheesiness as a description of shoddiness and poor workmanship and as a description of something that’s just in poor taste has been around a long time.
Cheesy was a great word to use in any company when saying something was a piece of—you know. You could even cut the cheese in the home of the preacher’s wife.
But lately the fast food places have been co-opting the word cheesy. Trying to make it good. Instead of saying “lots of cheese” and “full of cheese” and “loaded with cheese” and a “big slab of cheese”, they are actually saying “cheesy.” Jack in the Box has a “cheesy bacon wrap.” Taco Bell has a “cheesy rice and bean burrito.” Kraft Macaroni and Cheese says it’s “the cheesiest” mac-n-cheese around.
Now in my day, if some company proclaimed that its product was the cheesiest around people would have laughed at them.
My Ford Fiesta is the cheesiest car around.
My Yugo is cheesier.
But today, with Generation Y, Generation Whiner, and Generation Why Not all exposed to conflicting cheesy messages the distinction isn’t so clear.
“Oh man, I got the cheesiest laptop.”
“What? Was it defective?”
“No Dude, I was pounding down some snackage and got Cheesy Ranch Doritos in it.”
America, ya gotta love it.